First Motorola Droid review

Engadget just posted the first Motorola Droid review. I can’t say I agree with everything they said though, especially when with their cons. The camera plain sucks (according to pictures & video samples in the review) but :

First off, the camera is painfully slow to focus and snap pictures — and when it does, the results can be unpredictable. Strangely, the lens seems to be able to take pretty sharp macro photos (it’s even a setting in the camera app), but it struggled with getting adjusted to close subjects, even in broad daylight. Sometimes we got lucky and cranked out a decent pic, but the process was frustrating. Furthermore, the new settings Google has added to 2.0 are contained in a hard to get to and counterintuitive menu which sits to the left of your viewing area. Trying to make changes on the fly was a hassle. If this is the best the engineers at Google can do, they need to outsource this work.
Video, on the other hand, was somewhat of a pleasant surprise. The DROID is capable of shooting at a 720 x 480 resolution, and in our tests, produced watchable — if not totally shake-free — video. The phone definitely fares better in this department than with stills, and we could easily see using the DROID as a stand-in for a flip cam. You can check out a little of the action in the video below (with a surprise cameo from !!!’s Nic Offer).

In my opinion the video sample looks horrible. Why don’t they just tell it like it is ? It’s not good it’s bad.

In our tests, the nav worked excellently for the most part, though as you can see in the video above, we did run into some minor issues on our hunt for cannoli. It’s not uncommon for a GPS unit to send you the wrong way down a one way street, and maybe it was just unlucky coincidence that it happened on our first outing, but being told to turn left where you can’t — then being sent in a loop — doesn’t fill us with warm, fuzzy sensations. Still, the navigation is super intuitive and cleanly laid out, and even if there were major issues (which there really aren’t), it’s hard to knock a service that is completely free. We think a little more time and some longer trips will help put it in better perspective, but we like what we’ve seen so far.

Minor issues? The software told you “to turn left where you can’t — then being sent in a loop –” and this is just a minor issue? Oh yeah It’s Google, it’s beta, it’s free so it’s good enough..sure. Oh Well.

What I got from the review is:

-The hardware is solid and feels good in the hand
-The camera sucks
-The device is faster that previous Android phones (normal given the chipset used)
-Android 2.0 added some nice features that were already available in previous Android phones like the HTC Hero (Social media integration, Exchange support..)
-The Android 2.0 UI still looks old but gets a pass because it’s Google (if it was Symbian or WinMo it would get panned…)
- The only “new” feature in Android 2.0 is Google Navigation, it doesn’t always work right but gets a free pass because it’s Google, it’s Beta and free…
- Still no multi-touch support

I completely agree with you- googlofiles and android fanboys that were frightened by the wm ui in 2003 now can forgive anything if it is google…

Toha

I completely agree with you- googlofiles and android fanboys that were frightened by the wm ui in 2003 now can forgive anything if it is google…

khan

I agree with ya, Engadget has a slanted view on a lot of stuff.

khan

I agree with ya, Engadget has a slanted view on a lot of stuff.

http://psoriasisguru.com/ Gary Wilkes

The Droid seems to lack the innovative styling that was the big seller for the Razr, but still, the picture quality truly is remarkable and it’s nice to not have to depend too much on the touch screen

http://psoriasisguru.com Gary Wilkes

The Droid seems to lack the innovative styling that was the big seller for the Razr, but still, the picture quality truly is remarkable and it’s nice to not have to depend too much on the touch screen

admile3

Sure, the pictures of the camera do not look all that great, not as great as you would expect for a 5MP camera, however, the video looks pretty fantastic. When I first watched the clip of the video taken with the Droid from Engadget, I was less than impressed, as it looks jagged, blocky, pixelated, etc. However, make sure you have the “HD” option selected on the Viddler video, which gives you a MUCH clearer picture of what the video really looks like (unfortunately, they dont have that video set to show the HD version by default, you have to click the “HD” option to watch it in a much clearer view). It looks MUCH better than pretty much any cellphone video I’ve ever seen.

Concerning the Google Navigation: A navigation tool telling you to turn the wrong way down a road that is one-way is NOT that uncommon. Instances of this have cropped up in Garmin, Tom Tom, TeleNav, ALL of those premium Navigation Units. Heck, there have been even more severe instances of these units directing people off cliffs, into ponds, etc. Cities sometimes change the flow of traffic on roads to help with traffic congestions, etc. That just recently happened in the city I lived in, where they changed a 2-way road into a one-way to help ease congestion. These things take time to propagate out to these navigation companies, developers, etc. It’s just the nature of the beast. And this is getting a “pass” because it’s FREE (offers more functionality than some premium navigation programs, offers new innovation to the world of Nav units by adding things such as the Street View to show upcoming turns and your final destination) and because it’s still in Beta. You act as though Beta is not allowed to be taken into consideration just because it’s Google, which should not be the case. That is an excerpt from one of the FIRST reviews of the FIRST phone showcasing the FIRST version of the FIRST turn-by-turn program by Google. All of that considered, I dont think calling that a minor issue to be a problem at all.

Finally, There IS multi-touch support. Just not currently in the browser.

Sure, Engadget does have their bias at times. However, if they can be accused of ANY fanboy-ism, it would be towards Apple and the iPhone; not Google, Verizon, Motorola. So, to see a review like this that is plenty more objective than other phone reviews I’ve seen on that site, it’s actually quite a refreshing read. It seems to me that any amount of fanboy-ism to be taken from the Engadget article is completely overshadowed by your very subjective, and glaringly negative view of Engadget as a website.

admile3

Sure, the pictures of the camera do not look all that great, not as great as you would expect for a 5MP camera, however, the video looks pretty fantastic. When I first watched the clip of the video taken with the Droid from Engadget, I was less than impressed, as it looks jagged, blocky, pixelated, etc. However, make sure you have the “HD” option selected on the Viddler video, which gives you a MUCH clearer picture of what the video really looks like (unfortunately, they dont have that video set to show the HD version by default, you have to click the “HD” option to watch it in a much clearer view). It looks MUCH better than pretty much any cellphone video I’ve ever seen.

Concerning the Google Navigation: A navigation tool telling you to turn the wrong way down a road that is one-way is NOT that uncommon. Instances of this have cropped up in Garmin, Tom Tom, TeleNav, ALL of those premium Navigation Units. Heck, there have been even more severe instances of these units directing people off cliffs, into ponds, etc. Cities sometimes change the flow of traffic on roads to help with traffic congestions, etc. That just recently happened in the city I lived in, where they changed a 2-way road into a one-way to help ease congestion. These things take time to propagate out to these navigation companies, developers, etc. It’s just the nature of the beast. And this is getting a “pass” because it’s FREE (offers more functionality than some premium navigation programs, offers new innovation to the world of Nav units by adding things such as the Street View to show upcoming turns and your final destination) and because it’s still in Beta. You act as though Beta is not allowed to be taken into consideration just because it’s Google, which should not be the case. That is an excerpt from one of the FIRST reviews of the FIRST phone showcasing the FIRST version of the FIRST turn-by-turn program by Google. All of that considered, I dont think calling that a minor issue to be a problem at all.

Finally, There IS multi-touch support. Just not currently in the browser.

Sure, Engadget does have their bias at times. However, if they can be accused of ANY fanboy-ism, it would be towards Apple and the iPhone; not Google, Verizon, Motorola. So, to see a review like this that is plenty more objective than other phone reviews I’ve seen on that site, it’s actually quite a refreshing read. It seems to me that any amount of fanboy-ism to be taken from the Engadget article is completely overshadowed by your very subjective, and glaringly negative view of Engadget as a website.

techWiz

I have to agree 100% with admile3. Engadget review was solid. maybe even too critical of the device IMO. But since it got sooo much hype before hand it was kind of expected. To me from all I have seen and read the DROID IS the phone to beat come Nov. 6th and will be until the HD2 hits. The Iphone 3Gs is nice…but for me and what I want from a mobile device it is severly lacking.

techWiz

I have to agree 100% with admile3. Engadget review was solid. maybe even too critical of the device IMO. But since it got sooo much hype before hand it was kind of expected. To me from all I have seen and read the DROID IS the phone to beat come Nov. 6th and will be until the HD2 hits. The Iphone 3Gs is nice…but for me and what I want from a mobile device it is severly lacking.

admin

My only beef with the review was that Joshua didn’t go straight to the point (like they usualy do when taling about WinMo, Symbian etc..).Ex: WM 6.5 is lame (as an update) we all know this. Android’s UI looks old too but it’s cool cause it’s Google…etc
And just to be clear I think that the the Moto Droid is a great phone and Android 2.0 is currently the best overall mobile OS, it’s just a shame that it doesn’t have a UI like Sense as a default. Android suffers from some of the same issues as WinMo (has to be tweaked by the OEMs to be awesome), it shouldn’t get a pass because it’s a Google product.

Cheers

admin

My only beef with the review was that Joshua didn’t go straight to the point (like they usualy do when taling about WinMo, Symbian etc..).Ex: WM 6.5 is lame (as an update) we all know this. Android’s UI looks old too but it’s cool cause it’s Google…etc
And just to be clear I think that the the Moto Droid is a great phone and Android 2.0 is currently the best overall mobile OS, it’s just a shame that it doesn’t have a UI like Sense as a default. Android suffers from some of the same issues as WinMo (has to be tweaked by the OEMs to be awesome), it shouldn’t get a pass because it’s a Google product.